Excitement rose in me when I saw that my gym offered a
fitness class called: Barre*Fit. Thinking it would be a replica of all the
great resistant exercises and stretches I experienced in my years of ballet, I
was taken aback when I got there and students were pulling out weights, balls,
blocks and yoga mats from buckets in the closet. I thought, what does all of
this have to do with a workout at the Barre?
I had the same experience years ago when I took an exercise
ball class and weights were incorporated. I don’t understand why folks feel the
need to incorporate weights into EVERY fitness class offered. Really, it’s not
necessary. An ultimate work-out can be mastered with proper resistance and
breathing techniques. Though being that it was my first time, I grabbed all the
“suggested” paraphernalia I could and set up shop by a mat on the floor.
The class started out with the usual warm-ups and the “grape
vine.” Oh, come on, can someone else come up with a more interesting warm-up
than the grape vine…? I think the gyms keep this familiarity because they don’t
think the zombies who come to their classes can learn anything new.
What followed was a 45 minute work-out that combined yoga-type
positions on the mat and barre-type conditioning at the barre, or if there was
no room at the barre, a mirror to touch to keep ones balance. Honestly, the
exercises were actually creative enough to keep my interest, but I found no real
reason to incorporate any of the extra tools apart from the mat and I was
plenty sore the next day.
But what bothers me the most about these fitness classes,
and I suppose I’m spoiled because of the excellent dance instruction I grew up
with, is that the classes seem so superficial. In most cases, the instructors
are instructing so they can get a free membership and are actually getting a
work-out while they teach. They seem to have absolutely no interest if someone
in their class is doing something wrong that could hurt them. I saw so many
people trying to figure out the movement with a hit or miss attempt at throwing
their back out or pulling a hamstring. The instructor doesn’t even seem to look
around to see how people are doing. They are just going through the work-out
and yelling out the moves, maybe offering an alternative if the move might be
too complicated. That’s it!
Ballet folks, the teacher will tell you the movement with a
chosen classmate to do the moves for the students to follow and the teacher
will walk around and comment on what you need to do, or what a good extension
you have and “use” your name in the process; sometimes even using some hands-on
technique to help the student get the idea.
Oh, and the outfits, I had just as good as a work-out in my
morning stink, Harley tank top and baggy sweat pants as those girls in the skin
tight $300 outfits, freshly washed hair and, no shit, make-up!
*Barre – French, literally means bar; a horizontal bar at waist level on which
ballet dancers rest a hand for support during exercise.
